TL;DR - Quick Read
Hull is full of opportunity, but only if the right customers can actually find you. We have the fastest broadband in the country and yet a fair few local businesses still can't be found online at all. That gap is the opening, for anyone ready to be easy to find and easy to trust. I went digging into the local economy and pulled what I found into a free guide for Hull businesses.
I love this part of the job. Getting under the skin of a client's trading environment, seeing the city the way their customers do. So when I was doing the groundwork for a client in the private housing sector recently, I happily went a fair bit deeper than the job actually needed.
And once I had a proper picture of Hull's local economy, it seemed daft to keep it to myself. So I pulled it together, added what I know about being found locally, and made it free.
Here's what's in it for you: a clear read on where the work is in Hull right now, where the gaps are, and how to think about your own patch a bit differently. Yours to keep, yours to share.
It's worth remembering what kind of place this is. Some of the biggest names in the country started here as small local trades:
› Smith and Nephew began in 1856 as cotton wool and plasters made in a back room. It is now world-leading med-tech.
› Reckitt's was a Hull laundry and starch business long before it was Dettol, Nurofen and Vanish.
› Aunt Bessie's started as a local grocer and miller. Now it's in freezers across Britain.
None of them were big ideas. They were trades that served people well and kept adapting. If you run a small business in this city, you're in decent company.
We were the first city in the UK to get full-fibre broadband everywhere. The fastest connections in the country, sitting on our doorstep. And yet a big chunk of local businesses still can't be found online at all.
Hull by the numbers
1st the first UK city with 100% full-fibre broadband
~40% of UK small businesses have no website at all, and locally it looks worse
75% of Hull households own a car
38 the average age here, younger than the national figure
So: the fastest broadband in the country, and a fair few local businesses still impossible to find online. Read it the right way, though, and that's not a problem. It's a gap, sitting there waiting to be filled.
This is the part that matters. Being hard to find online isn't a small inconvenience. It's the difference between being in the running for work and never being seen at all. And it isn't about shouting the loudest. It's about being found by the right people, and showing them you're worth choosing before they ever pick up the phone.
Tim, the electrician
The findings point straight at his opportunity. A big student intake every year, a huge private rental market, landlords running multiple properties who need reliable, certified trades they can count on. Every rental needs its electrical safety certificate. If Tim is the name that comes up when a landlord searches, with his certifications, his reviews and his landlord work right there on show, he isn't competing on price. He's the obvious call. And it's repeat work, year after year.
Margot, the alternative therapist
A smaller outfit, no marketing budget, the kind of business that's easy to lose in the noise. But as a local SME she was able to get funded expert advice on who to target and how to present herself properly online. Rather than guessing, she had real help working out which local customers to reach and how to look credible to them. The support was there. She just had to know to ask for it.
Same gap. Two very different businesses. Both turning "easy to find, easy to trust" into actual work.
I'll not gloss over the hard bit. Hull has one of the highest business closure rates in the country. Nearly half the businesses started here since 2020 have already gone.
But when you read into why, it's rarely about Hull itself. It's about going it alone. No plan, no focus, nobody to ask.
Which is the best argument I know for being in a group like this one. The businesses that last tend to be the ones who don't try to do everything from a standing start, on their own.
I've put the whole lot on one page: a quick at-a-glance read if you just want the headlines over a coffee, and the full guide, the Hull Business Playbook, free to download right there on the same page. Where the work is, where the gaps are, the grants worth knowing about, and a fair bit more.
Here it is: kingstown-web-studio.co.uk/geo-hull
Free, nothing to fill in. Share it around if it's any use to you.
One thing worth saying. I wrote this and the guide early in 2026, and things move quickly round here, funding and grants especially. If you spot anything that's changed or out of date, do give me a shout. I'd rather keep it right than pretend it's set in stone.
And if you spot me at one of the networking mornings, do come and say hello. Now you've got a face to the name.
Susi is the founder of Kingstown Web Studio. A career as a professional marketer, spanning corporate, consultancy, and running her own businesses, means she writes from experience, not theory. Her articles are practical and a little bit cheeky: the kind she wishes someone had given her earlier. When she is not building websites, she is out and about in Hull, sharing the ideas and lightbulb moments that help local businesses get found.
Got a question?
Scan to WhatsApp or visit kingstown-web-studio.co.uk/hull
A little transparency: some of the people pictured here are digital versions, used to illustrate the kind of local businesses I mean rather than real clients. Margot and Tim are made up. The face on the About bit is mine, give or take a touch of creative licence. The only way to be sure is to meet me at a networking morning.
